


I Can

by hayesgeneration



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Child Abuse, M/M, Teen Wolf AU, self-reassurance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-29
Updated: 2012-10-29
Packaged: 2017-11-17 06:47:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/548752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hayesgeneration/pseuds/hayesgeneration
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Isaac Lahey is 15 years old and he has a crush on a boy. That in itself is petrifying and amazing at the same time, like the nice warmth of the sun being able to give you cancer. The boy’s name is Scott McCall, a freshman like Isaac, and he’s asthmatic and a bit weird but he’s got the kindest eyes Isaac has ever seen, and it’s really that simple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can

**Author's Note:**

> In which there are no werewolves, Isaac is an only child, his mother never around and his father forever an asshole - and Scott is made of sunshine.  
> Warnings for child abuse, even while it's not that detailed.

Isaac Lahey is 7 years old and it’s his first day of second grade. Last night, he packed his pencil case, his keys and a new notebook with footballs on the cover in his backpack and set it by the door next to his bed. He also packed his lucky frog, which is actually more like a green lump of fabric because the neighbour’s dog got a hold of it and chewed its legs off recently, but that is Isaac’s secret. Big boys don’t bring toys to school, says his dad. Isaac supposes he’s right. But the frog is important; it’s going to get him a good friend. Isaac brushes his teeth after breakfast, and then gets on a stool to look himself properly in the bathroom mirror. He lifts a hand, places it on his opposite shoulder in a firm grip.

“I can.” Isaac tells himself. The Isaac in the mirror squeezes his shoulder, gently, and nods.

Isaac is pretty sure he makes a new friend on that first day; a new student named Marley, a pretty girl with brown hair and big enough eyes to give even Isaac a run for his money. He tells his dad about Marley when he gets home, ecstatic, talks about their new teacher and the new classroom they’re going to make their own with the things they make over the next year. And it’s nice, for once, Isaac thinks, to have a smile on his face all the way up until the actual moment his dad finally brings out the belt.

 

\---

 

Isaac Lahey is 10 years old and Marley is changing schools. Her family is moving out of state, to Phoenix, and Isaac lies awake most of that Monday night after she tells him and thinks about how badly he wants to come with them. Marley says he can visit, but Isaac knows better, knows he won’t, can’t. Marley’s never asked about the bruises she’s found when tussling with him, and Isaac appreciates that, because he’s not even sure what he would say if anyone asked. But Marley is leaving, and no amount of ignored bruises will change that. He really wants to come. So he decides to ask the day after, when he goes to visit the last time. In the morning, Isaac stands in front of the mirror, squeezes his own shoulder and says;

“I can.”

It is, of course, a no, and a pat on the head, and when Isaac gets home, Marley’s mom has already called his dad to ask if Isaac is okay. Bless her, she’s always meant well. Dad bends Isaac’s left arm behind his back until the bone snaps. Isaac wants to go to Phoenix. He wants to rise from the ashes with his arm intact and Marley by his side. But there’s no Marley from tomorrow on, and when the doctor asks if the cast feels alright, Isaac just smiles.

 

\---

 

Isaac Lahey is 13 years old and he already hates being a teenager. 8th grade brings yet another big fat score of zero on Isaac’s top score of friends. He has classmates, sure, sometimes people he talks to in the cafeteria. But friends? Not so much. He wants to talk to Jessica Henley in the classroom opposite his, because she looks a bit like Marley, and it seems safe. Her girlfriends call her Jess, and Isaac likes nicknames, likes the promise of something nice that lingers behind the intent. Isaac puts on a nice shirt Thursday and stands in front of his mirror, hand on his shoulder, careful not to crease his shirt.

“I can.” Isaac in the mirror smiles at him.

Two boys from Jessica’s class beat him up in the yard and Jessica doesn’t spare him anything but an apologetic look. Too close. Isaac has to wait in the principal’s office for his dad to get off work and pick him up, and Isaac prods at a bruise on his lower arm all the way home in the car. Dad multiplies them in the basement, more vicious than usual because, Isaac figures, it’s easy to hide a tree in a forest.

 

\---

 

Isaac Lahey is 14 years old and it’s summer vacation. He spends a whole of twenty minutes getting out of bed that particular morning, because summer vacation means he’s home a lot – and so is dad. Isaac drags himself to the bathroom. He’s going to mow the lawn and do the dishes today and that’s fine. If his face wasn’t so sore. Isaac carefully tucks his nightshirt over his head and inspects the marks littered across his ribs and the blossoming bruise that _is_ the whole left side of his face. Isaac curls his hands tightly around the edges of the sink and clutches that instead of his shoulder.

“I can,” he grits out, in determined contempt.

 

 ---

 

Isaac Lahey is 15 years old and he has a crush on a boy. That in itself is petrifying and amazing at the same time, like the nice warmth of the sun being able to give you cancer. The boy’s name is Scott McCall, a freshman like Isaac, and he’s asthmatic and a bit weird but he’s got the kindest eyes Isaac has ever seen, and it’s really that simple. He’s never talked to Scott but they’ve both ended up on the lacrosse team, somehow, so that’s a start. Scott is always hanging around with his best friend, which sort of kills Isaac’s nerve; how do you do this again? Isaac spends what turns out to be months just convincing himself that tomorrow, he’ll talk to Scott and try not to embarrass himself.

It’s a Friday morning, and Isaac does push ups before taking a shower and getting in front of the mirror. He gives his shoulder a good, reassuring pat, because he’s going to need it, and, with resolve, tells himself;

“I can.”

Isaac sits on his dad’s glasses when he takes his morning juice to the couch. His dad drags him down to the basement, and Isaac sees the potential in the unused freezer in the corner several long seconds before his dad does. Isaac doesn’t get to school, misses lacrosse practise, and doesn’t talk to Scott McCall. He’s too busy discovering that apparently, he has a severe case of claustrophobia. Who knew.

 

\---

 

Isaac Lahey is 16 years old and he’s finally talking to Scott McCall. He has been for some months, actually. Only, he’s not entirely sure what they’re talking about today, because he’s spent the past few minutes looking at the way Scott’s mouth curves when he speaks. Stilinski is laughing on Scott’s right side, right-hand-man and all, and Isaac manages to focus on the conversation again before he gets caught staring. Stiles is talking about helping Isaac fix the D he got in chemistry because seriously, their teacher Harris is such a _douche_ , and Isaac smiles and says thank you. It’s not going to fix anything. He takes a good, long look at Scott and Scott's hand on Stiles' shoulder, before he leaves the classroom where they share French, and Scott waves at him before leaving with Stiles. Isaac goes to the locker rooms, stands in front of the mirrors, squeezes his shoulder, pretends it’s Scott, and says;

“I can.”

His dad’s belt leaves angry, red welts across his back. It’s been a while since the belt; Isaac is getting bigger, tougher. His dad wants him to pass chemistry. Isaac just wants his chemistry with Scott to get better.

 

 ---

 

Isaac Lahey is 17 years old and Scott McCall is kicking the shit out of his dad. To be honest, it probably isn’t a fair fight, because Isaac’s dad isn’t 30 anymore and Scott is getting some leg from lacrosse and had the advantage of jumping Isaac’s dad when he wasn’t looking. Isaac can’t breathe, watching in sick fascination as Scott, who doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, attempts a chokehold and gets flung off. He slams into the kitchen counter, hard, and slumps against the floor, and Isaac’s dad bends down and pulls him up by the collar, a clenched fist pulling back, ready to punch. Something in Isaac snaps.

By the time the police arrives, Isaac has barricaded himself and Scott in the bathroom, a dresser pushed against the inside of the door. He figured his dad would wake up from being knocked out eventually. He’s clutching Scott, who’s gotten a bloody – but no longer bleeding – nose and a black eye, and Scott just clutches him back in return, a sore hug, like a bruise, and Isaac is trying not to freak out, whispering into Scott’s hair every time his dad bangs on the door.

“I can, I can, I can.”

Scott shushes him occasionally and gently reaches back to palm the big, purple splotch on the back of Isaac’s neck, the one that gave everything away.

 

\---

 

Isaac Lahey is 18 years old and he’s about to kiss Scott McCall. This, he finds, is the single most terrifying thing he’s ever been about to do, and Scott is very, very close, but it’s still making his knees buckle in a good way. Scott tastes like tooth paste. Isaac’s dad is dead, car accident two weeks before their court date, and Isaac is going to stay with a distant aunt on his mother’s side, but at least it’s in California, and Isaac can’t bring himself to feel lonely when he’s got Scott.

“I can,” Isaac mutters against Scott’s mouth, his ritualistic habit kicking aside his resolve to not make an ass out of himself. Scott pulls back and grins, the dopiest grin in the world, and kisses Isaac again.

“Yes, you can.” 


End file.
